Media Notes

March 11, 2013

In Ft. Lauderdale, Craig Davis writes with the Marlins’ TV deal with FS Florida lasting until ’20, the team is “among those missing the gravy train due to being locked into a long-term broadcast contract.” The team’s annual revenue from local TV is “believed to be” in the $16-18M range. While there are "skeptics" to Owner Jeffrey Loria’s claim the Marlins lost tens of millions of dollars in ’12, the team’s payroll reduction has “more to do with limited local television revenue than disappointing attendance.” A “troubling sign for the Marlins is their average audience last season on FSF was 32,000, fourth-lowest in MLB.” However, the Astros and Padres “scored their big deals with smaller viewership” (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 3/11).

SPANNING THE GLOBE: In Boston, Bruce Allen cited sources as saying that SI has “had conversations" with the Boston Globe’s Greg Bedard “about coming on staff with them as a Boston-based NFL writer.” Sources said that while the move is not official, the Globe is “making preparations as if they expect Bedard to depart following next month’s NFL draft.” The loss of Bedard “would be a big one” (BOSTONSPORTSMEDIAWATCH.com, 3/8).

APP TO THE FUTURE: BUSINESS INSIDER’s Julie Bort wrote start-up Prediculous “wants to expand into a whole new set of fantasy sports games.” The two-year-old company has “built a handful of short-lived, custom fantasy Facebook games and has scored some big advertising sponsorships from names like Subway, UPS and Allstate.” Its eponymous flagship game “lets people predict the future of anything in the worlds of sports, news, entertainment.” But “next up is a big expansion into all sorts of other fantasy games” (BUSINESSINSIDER.com, 3/10).

NEW ROLE: USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand notes while CBS' Lesley Visser will not appear as a sideline reporter this year, she will make appearances "in taped features." Visser said, "I just wanted to do something different." She added that she will "continue to do live CBS pregame reports from the NFL games being aired that day on Fox." Visser: "I've got a couple years left at CBS, and I've cherished every second" (USA TODAY, 3/11).